Edelweiss, Switzerland's leading leisure travel airline and part of the Lufthansa group, announced Thursday that it will open a new direct route from Zurich to Eilat.
The new route is scheduled to begin on October 28, 2018.
Tourism Ministry Director General Amir Halevi met with senior officials from Edelweiss at the recent ITB travel fair in Berlin to close the final details of the deal before the opening of the flight and the grant given by the ministry in line with the Eilat flights directive.
The Eilat flight directive, in which the Tourism Ministry offers an incentive of €45 and the Eilat Hotels Association €15 per passenger on new direct routes into Eilat Ovdah, has, to date, resulted in the arrival of more than 130,000 passengers to Eilat, injecting NIS 600 million into the economy. As part of the marketing efforts related to the resort town, the Ministry is also working to improve the tourism infrastructure and the cleanliness of the town’s promenade.
In a press release announcing the opening of the route, Edelweiss wrote that “Eilat, the southernmost city in Israel, offers numerous possibilities for active and varied holidays. The region on the Red Sea is considered a diving and snorkeling paradise due to the clear water and the colorful and diverse underwater world. In addition to beautiful beaches, holidaymakers will find numerous adventure parks and water sports in Eilat.”
Tourism Minister Yariv Levin (Likud) said, “I congratulate Edelweiss on its decision to begin operations with Israel by opening its route to Eilat – the first time in many years that there is a direct flight from Switzerland to Eilat. This is a great vote of confidence in Israel’s tourism product and more proof that the Eilat flight directive, which the Ministry initiated to encourage tourism to the resort, is bearing fruit. I am convinced that this new route will lead to a further increase in incoming tourism, along with the Ministry’s exceptional marketing efforts that are generating record-breaking levels of incoming tourism.”
The flights from Zurich to Eilat are already available for immediate booking on Edelweiss' website and all the usual sales channels, and can be combined perfectly with connections to Tel Aviv from SWISS.